


Flaws

by Trash



Series: Kinktober 2017 [6]
Category: Bastille (Band)
Genre: Dan is an empath, Day six: bonds, Kinktober 2017, Kyle is incredibly understanding, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 15:30:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12302082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trash/pseuds/Trash
Summary: When you meet someone for the first time and they bounce up to you, beyond pissed, going “you look like you have pianist fingers,” and you think they said ‘penis fingers’, and there’s a lot of drunken laughter and explanation followed by, “join my band, go on.” If that’s how you meet someone, nothing else they ever say or do is unusual. Even if it’s meditation.





	Flaws

**Author's Note:**

> Kinktober day six: bonds

Kyle walks in on Dan sitting on the floor of the rehearsal studio, cross legged, and goes, “Uh.”

Dan opens his eyes. He has his hands held in front of his chest, palms facing one another an inch away from one another. He blushes, faintly. “Hello,” he says, “give me two minutes.” He brings his hands towards his chest, breathing in deep. His eyes flutter open again and he smiles, looks serene.

“Y’alright, mate?”

“Yeah. Sorry. I, um, meditate.”

(When you meet someone for the first time and they bounce up to you, beyond pissed, going “you look like you have pianist fingers,” and you think they said ‘penis fingers’, and there’s a lot of drunken laughter and explanation followed by, “join my band, go on.” If that’s how you meet someone, nothing else they ever say or do is unusual. Even if it’s meditation.)

So Kyle goes, “Right. You feeling all zen and that?”

Dan laughs. “Yeah. I was shielding myself.”

Kyle sits down opposite him, crossing his legs to mirror Dan. “Shielding.”

“Don’t be so cynical.”

“M’not. Just, what’s shielding mean?”

Dan looks down at his hands, “Have you ever heard of an empath?”

Kyle hasn’t.

“It’s...if you’re an empath you can feel other people’s emotions and energies.” 

“Right.”

“And some people are exhausting to be around. If you’re an empath, that is.”

“Right.”

Dan looks at him, the picture of fucking innocence, sitting there cross legged with his hands on his knees. He looks so open and sad. And for whatever reason, Kyle has felt inclined to believe and hang on every word that comes out of Dan’s mouth. Now is no exception. 

“You believe me, then?”

“Am I the exhausting one?”

Dan doesn’t answer, and Kyle takes that as a yes. He tries not to feel offended. He’s been called exhausting before, but that was by an ex who worked in the city and didn’t have a sense of humour. Still, it’s a sore point.

“You have a lot of energy,” Dan says. “You’re so passionate. About the band, about the lads, about life. And that’s...this is so hard to explain.”

Kyle reaches out, puts his hand over Dan’s. “I’m listening.”

“I take it all on. All of it. Playing gigs is really hard, it just all makes me so anxious. But I’m getting better at shielding myself from the crowd and the band. But I can’t with you. I feel it all.” He runs a hand through his hair, taking a breath before meeting Kyle’s eyes. “You don’t believe in yourself, and there’s parts of yourself that you can’t stand. And I feel that. And it’s so hard to not just grab you and tell you that you’re worth so much more than you think you are, that every single part of you is worthy of love.”

Kyle is pretty sure he’s gawping. He knows this about himself, that he doesn’t feel like he measures up to anybody around him, that one day everybody will realise it’s all been a fluke. And then what? What’s left? And has Dan’s melancholy actually just been a mirror of his own all this time? Is he the one who made him feel that way?

“Stop it.”

“What?”

“Overthinking it. I didn’t tell you this to make you feel even shitter. If it helps, the only times I’ve not been able to shield myself from people in the past has been because I’ve had a crush on them,” Dan says, matter-of-factly. His confidence is only betrayed by the blush spreading across his cheeks. “And usually it’s because the other person feels the same way.”

Rumbled. Kyle’s face heats up and suddenly the room feels really small, Dan feels really close. “Well. Yeah. I suppose.”

“You suppose?”

“You’re my mate. My best mate, I reckon. And I don’t want to fuck that up. You know? Don’t shit where you eat, or...work and pleasure. What the fuck ever. One of those things.” The trouble is, Kyle doesn’t even believe what he’s saying. He didn’t want to fuck it up, obviously. But he was also scared of coming out, of facing the possibility that Dan was a) straight and/or b) not into him. 

Dan is watching him carefully, and Kyle realises then that Dan probably gets it. Can probably feel his agitation, his doubt. 

“Well...what do we do now?” Kyle asks, eventually.

“Usually with a date, but...I kind of really want to kiss you,” Dan says, smiling shyly.

Kyle leans in across their legs and kisses him lightly, leaving Dan plenty of room to pull away if he wants to. He doesn’t, and when Kyle sits back he looks flushed and happy. “Right,” Kyle says.

Dan laughs, pushing himself to his feet. He sticks out a hand for Kyle to take, pulling him up. “Right,” he says. “With that out of the way, shall we rehearse?”

Kyle knows he’s smiling like a fucking idiot. “Yeah,” he says. “Where should we start?”

And Dan says, “Flaws?” 

And Kyle laughs, because isn’t that just so fitting? “Yeah,” he says, still smiling like an idiot. “Yeah. Okay.”


End file.
